Moby-Dick is incredibly well-written and redefined the construct of novels

The prose of the book itself is incredibly masterful. There seems to be no shortage of breathtaking passages or clever references to classical literature, Shakespeare, and the like. Melville expertly crafts a stunning and compelling plot accompanied by a host of unforgettable, and now famous, characters. The monomaniacal Ahab, for example, is one of the most iconic literary characters, and he himself has even become an archetype of the obsessive. Even the white whale, not so much a character as much as a symbol, has taken on a life of its own outside the novel as a common metaphor/idiom. The plot itself is just as well known, with most knowing the fated ending of the Pequod and her crew. And although many criticisms of the book come from long-winded and seemingly pointless passages on whale terminology and the whaling industry, these wanderings from the main plot serve their purpose. In making "Moby-Dick" a sort of rudimentary whaling encyclopedia in tandem with the story, Melville revolutionized what a novel could be. In this way, "Moby-Dick" is well worth reading in its revolutionary nature, and perhaps most simply, because it is a riveting and well-written story.